Returnee’s Life Report

59

It was easy to find a clue.

This place was some sort of desolated estate of land. The castle they could see over the hill proved that their guess was correct. Part of its structure was eroded so completely that it had already disappeared. The huge castle was about four stories high.

They entered the castle and stepped into an enormous lobby inside. The dead bodies of the members of the Constantine guild were scattered all around the area, and dark red blood stained the surroundings.

Kim So-Eun immediately felt nauseous, but, surprisingly, it was her who stepped forward and collected the smartwatches from the corpses. She clenched her teeth and gathered every piece of evidence that she could see before passing them on to Jeong Gi-Hoon.

At the moment, she was the least experienced person in their team. Even if she was a unique skill holder, she was still just a new Hunter. Unlike the others, it was her first time to see dead bodies.

She was a clever girl. She knew the exact reason why I brought her here.

I wanted her to get used to this. After all, she was a Hunter. If she wanted to do this job, then she would have to get used to situations like this.

She wanted to grow and help me. That was why So-Eun did this by herself. She cried right after doing the task, but despite that, she did make progress. That was why I chose her. She would definitely be stronger.

I wanted to praise her persistence and desire to achieve something she wanted, but of course, I didn’t comfort her or anything. That was Yoo Ee-Na’s job. That was how a team formed a strong bond with each other.

After collecting evidence, I went toward the middle of the lobby, where there was a long sword lying on the ground. It was quite an interesting sword, but I knew that I would have to skip it for now.

I approached Jeong Gi-Hoon. He was checking all the smartwatches and trying to analyze if there were any important videos.

“How’s it going?”

“For now, no luck yet.”

“Well, that’s a shame. You’ll have to work harder.”

Jeong Gi-Hoon smiled awkwardly as he checked the other watches.

He had checked six watches so far and had not found anything useful. The seventh, eighth, and ninth watches proved to be useless, as well.

As mentioned before, the state that the dead bodies were in was terrible. There were arms and legs that had been chopped off and heads that were decapitated. That was the reason why the entire place was so bloody.

Kim So-Eun had gathered eighteen watches, but there were about eighty-nine corpses here. That meant that most of the watches were inside the monster’s stomach already.

Despite this, Gi-Hoon was calm. He discarded yet another useless watch and turned on the next one. Finally, a smile crossed his face.

“I found it.”

***

James, the leader of the Constantine guild, looked up at the sky.

It has been six years since he had started this job. The time seemed to have passed so quickly.

They were currently in Baker Street, London. The S-rated gate had suddenly appeared here. According to Sophie Winsted, it had a power of 3.4 million. Compared to other S-rated gates, this one was weaker.

They were confident, but that had quickly changed as soon as they entered the gate. At first, they thought they were in a forest, but they eventually realized that they were in a deserted ancient city instead.

“This place is at least five hundred years old,” the interpreter from the guild informed him. James trusted this man.

“Five hundred years… That’s quite a long time.”

James stopped talking and looked around. So far, they could see no threats and no signs of living creatures here.

This must be a gate requiring someone to find the hidden artifact. Since they had two excellent interpreters, they felt equipped to clear the gate.

“Let’s divide ourselves into two. Group one will look around the castle with me, and group two will look over the forest. If you find something, call me.”

Everyone nodded and started to work as they were instructed.

They investigated for twenty minutes, but so far, nothing significant could be found. There was literally nothing around here, and the only structure was the castle on top of a hill.

Naturally, James and the members of his guild entered the castle, where they found themselves in a gigantic ballroom, which looked like a good place to hold a party.

While looking around the wide hall, James spotted a long sword lying in the middle. It had a length of around two meters. The sword was exceptionally large.

They continued to make observations on the castle but did not touch or move anything around. They didn’t want to trigger something to happen.

A short while later, they received a signal that the other group had found something.

“We’ll go there.”

When James arrived at their location, he could see that one of his interpreters was frozen in fear and uncertainty. There was a tombstone in front of him.

“Is this a clue?”

“Yes… But it’s strange, sir.”

“What do you mean?”

The interpreter read the inscription on the tombstone in a shaking voice.

“Tiamat has five sons… One with a lion head and black skin called Usumgallu… The dragon with seven heads is Musmahhu… If someone bothers them, the rage of Tiamat shall punish you…”

He read the last sentence.

“One who bothers the rest of Musmahhu shall be punished…”

Everyone’s lips were closed in fear while James was thinking about the meaning of those words. What did this mean? Wait a moment… Lion head and black skin?

Could it be… the Demon King?

James froze as well. He knew what the interpreter would say next.

“I think this dungeon is related to the Demon King from North Korea.”

“But… Why is that in this gate?”

They didn’t have time to think of the answer because the gate suddenly rumbled violently and the monster appeared behind them.

Its skin was snow white, and it had seven heads coming out of its body, with a sharp horn on each head.

It was Musmahhu, and it was slowly approaching them. James made a quick decision.

“Let’s go back. Retreat.”

“Yes, sir.”

Without hesitation, they headed back to the castle.

As they made their hasty retreat, James continuously looked back to check on the monster, which was moving very slow. He was thinking about another way to clear the gate. He needed a plan.

When they got back to the castle, James turned back one last time, but the monster was gone.

That must have been the boss monster. Why did it not follow them to the castle? Was this castle some sort of a safe zone? Or could this monster move around the forest only?

There were several possibilities. He sighed and decided to think about it later.

They gathered together in the large hall. James wanted to discuss their plan, but one of the guild members approached him urgently.

“Master, there is something inside there.”

“If you mean the long sword, I already saw it.”

The man shook his head and pointed at the handle of the sword.

“There’s something written on this.”

James could see letters engraved on the handle that he was not able to see before. He looked closer. There was a light shining directly on the sword. When they had come in a while ago, there had been no light. He realized that the letters only appeared when light is shone directly on them.

The language written on the sword was weird. When the interpreters saw it, however, they were shocked.

“What the…”

“What’s wrong?”

“Sir, this gate is strange.”

“What’s written on it?”

One of the interpreters pointed at the sword.

“It says that this is King Arthur’s sword. The Excalibur’s wielder shall rule the world…”

As British Hunters, James and the other members of the guild knew about the legend of King Arthur.

They were all confused. Why was that here?

But, once again, they didn’t have time to think. A screeching sound suddenly came from their side, and they caught sight of the monster.

Why was it here? It was a slow monster. When James had last checked, the monster was out of sight.

He didn’t even feel its presence. It came in like a shadow.

In an instant, it had devoured seven members of the guild.

“Everyone, charge!”

The Hunters tried to attack, but it was useless. Nothing they tried worked. They ended up being nothing more than a meal for the monster. Some Hunters exploded while others had their limbs chopped off and eaten.

James froze in place. This monster was way above their league. This was not an S-rated monster; it was way more powerful than that.

While the remaining Hunters could do nothing but stare in horror, James was the first to recover his senses. He thought of the Excalibur. That weapon could save them.

He ran to the sword and grabbed the handle. Unfortunately, he couldn’t lift it. It was far too heavy.

Soon, a dark shadow towered over him.

That was the end of James.

***

And that was the end of the video.

After seeing all of it, Jeong Gi-Hoon murmured.

“…Sometimes, this type of dungeon appears.”

I glanced at Gi-Hoon. Since he knew much more about the gates than I did, he would explain it clearly. I knew that I had chosen correctly.

“This is a double dungeon.”

“Double dungeon?”

“Yes. Sometimes, in S-rated gates, both orcs and goblins appear in the same dungeon. Usually, they are separate from each other. Goblins are ruled by goblin emperors, and orcs have their kings. That’s why they don’t appear in the same dungeons, but there are some exceptions.”

“And I suppose that this double gate is an exception?”

“Correct. A double dungeon refers to the combination of two dungeons. This dungeon has the legends of both Tiamat and King Arthur.”

Now I knew the reason why this gate had such a high amount of power. It was related to the gate that my brother told me about.

To be clear, I asked Jeong Gi-Hoon.

“Since this sword is here, I assume that the tomb of King Arthur is also nearby.”

“…We’ll have to see, but I can tell that King Arthur will be here, which means that there are two boss monsters in this gate.”

He paused, seeming to be lost in thought. After coming to a conclusion, he murmured.

“I can now tell the purpose of the gate.”

“What purpose?”

“I think the way to clear this dungeon is to take that Excalibur and kill Musmahhu. Then we’ll have to defeat King Arthur.”

I quietly listened to Jeong Gi-Hoon’s words.

“Also, if we have Excalibur, it would help us deal with the Tiamat gate. This is now clear.”

“What do you mean?”

“The system is foretelling that Tiamat will appear soon.”

That was quite a reasonable explanation.

Things were now getting interesting.